Patrick Jenkin

This article is part of the Nuclear Spin project of Spinwatch.

Lord Jenkin

Charles Patrick Fleeming Jenkin was born on September 7, 1926. He was educated at Clifton College and Jesus College, Cambridge where he read law. After a stint in the Army, he was called to the Bar Middle Temple in 1952 and practiced as a barrister until 1957. He then held senior positions in several major companies including Andersen Consulting and Friends Provident. Jenkin is a former Secretary of State for the Environment 1983-86 and Secretary of State for Industry 1981-83. He is the current Chairman of the Foundation for Science and Technology and a member of the advisory panel of Sense About Science. He is a current member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Nigeria.

Since 1990, he has acted as an unpaid political consultant to the Thames Estuary Airport Co. Ltd, which is pressing for a new airport on an artificial island in the Thames Estuary.

He was made a life baron in 1987. ^[1]

He is the father of Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin.

Links to the nuclear industry

Jenkin is a former Vice Chair and remains a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Nuclear Energy (APPGNE), which has very close links to the Nuclear Industry Association (NIA). APPGNE's website is registered by NIA, and administrative support is undertaken by NIA employee Miranda Kirschel. Attendees at meetings have included NIA Chief Executive Keith Parker, UKAEA Chief Executive Dipesh Shah and senior figures from BNFL, British Energy, Atomic Energy Canada Ltd and global PR company Fleishman-Hillard (which counts Nirex and Atomic Energy Canada Ltd among its clients).

At a meeting of the APPGNE on 23 February 2005, packed with senior nuclear industry figures, there was a discussion of the importance of the Government "pre-licensing" available nuclear reactors designs to ensure that new nuclear power stations can be built quickly. A few months later in the Lords, Jenkin questioned the Government about its policy on pre-licensing.

Jenkin is also a consultant to the Sumitomo Trust and Banking Company Ltd. The giant Sumitomo group owns both the Sumitomo Trust and Banking Company and Sumitomo Metal Mining Company, which is involved in the nuclear industry. Sumitomo was involved in Japan's worst nuclear accident, which occurred at Tokaimura, near Tokyo, on 30 September 1999. Two workers at the plant died when they ignored safety procedures and dumped large quantities of uranium into a tank. The uranium reached critical mass and exploded. Tens of thousands of people in the area were quarantined and checked for radiation. The plant was owned by the JCO company, which was in turn owned by Sumitomo Metal Mining. Sumimoto is also a member of the World Nuclear Association. ^{[2] [3]}

Jenkin was a Member of the Council of the Royal Institution of Great Britain (2002-2005) which is a "kindred organisation" of the British Nuclear Energy Society. On 15 June 2005, it hosted a debate about the future of nuclear power at which Ian Fells spoke. At an event in Cambridge on 9 July 2005, the Institution held a debate about nuclear power predicated on "an assumption that any policy choice that addresses energy security and climate stability would need to be based on an assessment of a diversity of sources including nuclear'.

In a UKAEA publication dated February 2004, Jenkin was pictured with senior nuclear industry figures at a visit to a nuclear site.

In February 2007 Jenkin visited France as a member of a delegation from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Nuclear Energy as guests of the French nuclear company, Areva SA who paid all travel and hotel expenses.

Affiliations

Jenkin is Honorary President of the National Skills Academy for Nuclear and President of the Energy Industries Council.